A recent article in the Birmingham News reviewed an article by the Los Angeles Times on whether a national trend towards graduated driver license have actually backfired. Alabama passed such a law in the summer of 2010 in an attempt to reduce the number of teenage car accidents in Alabama. To see more information on the law passed in Alabama, please see our Alabama Injury Attorney Blog article entitled Alabama's Graduated Driver License Law dated September 3, 2010.
The JAMA study discussed in the newspaper articles looked at crashes involving 16 to 19 year old drivers and the effect graduated driver license laws (GDL) have had on the number of fatal collisions. According to the study, the number of fatal automobile wrecks among 16 and 17 year olds declined; however, the number of fatal crashes among 18 to 19 year olds rose by an equal amount. "The controls placed on new drivers -- including night driving, cellphone use, limiting the number of passengers -- to shield them has resulted in shifting the number of fatal crashes from them to an older age group, according to the study." (Driver's Side: Do graduated driver licenses really shift teen fatalities? - The Birmingham News). For example, the state of Florida passed a GDL law in 1996, and since that time the program has been linked to 1,348 fewer fatal auto accidents involving 16 year olds; however, there have been 1,086 more fatal wrecks involving 18 year old drivers.
While the JAMA study found GDL laws have a negative effect on older teen drivers a study by the journal Traffic Injury Prevention did not. So it appears that the jury is still out on the overall effect of GDL laws. As Huntsville Alabama car wreck attorneys we routinely see accidents that are caused by distracted driving. Thus,it seems that there needs to be laws in place to reduce the number of distracted drivers the question is what should these laws be and how should they be implemented.
